Small barns come in all sizes and styles. From simple single stall horse barns to 20 stall barns with a hay loft, office and tack rooms there is a barn to suit every owners needs. 4 stall horse barns are typically designed to be simple and inexpensive to build. Their small size keeps construction costs down while still providing the minimum needs for protecting and caring for your horses. This article describes the basic elements of a 4 stall horse barn including the construction method, stall description, door types, and tack room requirements
Construction
The tried and tested way of building a horse barn when using wood is to use post and beam construction techniques. Framing with post and beam is done by constructing the main structure of the barn installing the posts vertically on the corners and as intermediate supports between the corners and then hanging beams and girt boards horizontally between the posts. The roof, siding and kick boards hang on the beams and girt boards. This simple framing method has been used for hundreds of years to build countless horse barns and other out buildings.
Stalls
A horse stall in a barn is a horses home when it is in the barn. It provides a safe area where the horse can be protected from the outside elements, eat, rest and sleep while being left unattended. There are many sizes of horse stalls but the most common size for a small horse barn are between 10 by 10 feet and 12 by 12 feet.
Stall Doors
Stall doors should be a minimum of 4' wide and 7' tall. An 8' tall door is preferable for larger horses. The door must have hinge or roller and lock hardware that is strong enough to keep the horse from knocking it open. The door hardware must be designed so that it cannot poke, scratch or otherwise hurt the horse. The two types of doors typically used are sliding door and hinged doors. Each style has its benefits. The sliding door hangs on a rolling wheel that rolls on a steel rod or track that is attached to the wall above the door opening. The door slides to the side parallel to the wall. This configuration reduces the stress on the door hardware and allows very large doors to be hung. The hinged door allows for a Dutch style door which makes it so that the top can be opened without opening the bottom half. This allows the horse to see out of the doorway while still being kept securely inside the horse stall.
Tack Room
A tack room is essential when owning horses. The tack room is the storage space for all your horse riding and horse care equipment. Everything from your saddle to grooming tools to medications are kept in the tack room so it needs to be large enough to hold all your equipment. On small barns that only house one to four horses you can have a tack room that is 6 x 10 feet. For larger barns with many horses and many riders a larger tack room is required. Small amounts of feed or treats are often stored inside the tack room. Many 4 stall horse barn plans do not include a tack room. If you have a 4 stall horse barn that does not have a tack room you may use one of the stalls as a tack room if you have a free stall.
The elements of a small horse barn are simple enough that most horse owners can build their own even if they have no prior construction experience. So if you want to build a safe home for 3 or 4 horses with minimal effort then building a free standing 4 stall horse barn is the perfect solution.
Christopher enjoys designing equestrian structures to help horse owners protect and care for their animals. You can view many sizes and styles of small horse barns and the 4 stall horse barn talked about in this article at http://www.icreatables.com/ SHEDS
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